Tongue Tied
by Tono Radish
Summary: After flooding his bathroom Haru takes a job at a local department store to pay for the damages. On a slow night he spots a kid looking for their mom... only when they find her she isn't his mom BUT HIS SMOKIN' HOT OLDER BROTHER?


**I'm 22 and had a conversation with a Walmart employee that inspired this fic. Thank you mysterious Walmart employee who thought I was funny, you inspired MakoHaru tonight.**

It was a slow evening at the department store for Haruka Nanase. He had spent the last hour in the back of the building near the fish deli by a table placed at the end of the cracker and candy isle. He was stacking, taking down, and then stacking again the discount canned mackerel. Under the migraine inducing fluorescent lights, at first he went for the usual seven by seven cubed tower for the cans. When the work was done and there was still nothing to do he moved the cans around and changed their shape to that of a pyramid. He could do better than that, he thought. And so Haru got to work again on undoing his stack of cans only so he could absentmindedly stack them again.

Working at the department store wasn't so awful on days like today. If Haru weren't stacking cans and his manager was in the break room he could easily disappear into one of the other departments. There was one full of bubbling fish tanks he often liked to visit. And they sold art supplies on the upper floor somewhere. The woman at the counter never minded him when he wanted to hang out and doodle little pictures. She even put some of them up around the register with drawings little kids did she liked. However, he still wished he could just go home and take a bath after such a long school day. If only he hadn't flooded and ruined the bathroom trying, fruitlessly, to make his own human-sized fish tank. His parents were making him pay for the repairs, a fair punishment he felt.

Haru's daydreams of life as a merman were cut short at the sound of light footsteps going in circles and incoherent high pitched babbling. Letting his cans settle at last, Haru's blue eyes peered over into the candy and cracker isle where a little boy, no older than 9 years old, was looking around helplessly clinging to a bag of brown sugar cookies as if his life depended on them. He was wearing a lime green hoodie and had the signature brown bowl cut it seemed all kids his age have. Judging by the panic in his golden brown eyes Haru was certain that this kid was lost.

He approached the trembling child with the friendliest expression he could manage, which was just his usual expressionless face, "Can I help you?"

As he knelt down to try to be less intimidating he couldn't help but notice how robotic his voice was when he spoke. Come to think of it it wasn't very often he had to interact with children, or anyone. Maybe that was why he felt so nervous? He was only trying to help but how could he be if he couldn't communicate normally? Hopefully the kid wouldn't notice…

The tense boy seemed to trust Haru thanks to the credibility his name tag gave him, "I'm looking for my mom…"

Bingo. Lost. Well, now what? Haru's mouth stretched into a straight line as he looked around for help. Did anyone else work in this store? It was an absolute ghost town tonight. The store didn't have a lot of shoppers that evening but it was also a bigger store, which meant just waiting around for the mom to come back wasn't going to work. He supposed his best bet would be to go to customer service and borrow the intercom and call for his mom to come get him. So Haru stood up and held out his hand to the boy. Then he quickly retracted it to wipe his sweaty palms off on his apron, before, offering again. The kid only looked at it. Was he disgusted? Maybe he just didn't know what to do with it? Jeez, Haru would really need to practice talking to kids more… talking in general.

"I'm Haru," Haru said pointing to his dumb face before trying again, "What's your name?"

"Ren," Ren whispered, peeking up at Haru through his bangs, lips tight.

And then Haru gave a polite smile to Ren, "Let's go find your mom."

Ren's hand clutched Haru's as tightly as he clutched his bag of cookies. He guided Ren to the customer service booth on the second floor near the art supplies. The old woman who worked there gave the pair a wave and Haru acknowledged her by bowing his head slightly. Ren did the same. It felt easier to guide the boy now that he was no longer some kid but "Ren." Why did giving someone or something a name make it so much more familiar? When they got to the booth Haru explained to the other woman already waiting there the situation and she called over the speakers for Ren's mother.

Their adventure together was short but pleasant. Haru felt that if he ever saw this boy again he could give a friendly smile instead of just a polite one. And that was when it happened. Ren's mom appeared. Except she wasn't his mom or even a woman, for that matter. He was a tall, olive toned man with brilliant glittering green eyes full of tears. He called out to Ren, a little girl tagging along behind him with a loaded shopping cart. The man clung to Ren and howled about how worried he was and the little girl only pat, what Haru assumed, was her older brother's enormous back.

And then those teary emeralds locked onto Haru, "Thank you so much for finding Ren!"

Haru took a half step back, bumping into the counter of the customer service booth, his face heating up faster than mackerel fillet in a frying pan. His hands shot up to his chest instinctively as he let out odd half syllables for words that weren't real. Get yourself together Haru or he'll think you're an idiot. Thankfully, Ren's older brother didn't come across as bothered by Haru's lack of communication skills. Instead he only wiped his eyes and smiled a smile so bright and warm that the woman behind Haru incinerated instantly, leaving behind a puddle of bashful goop. Haru was amazed he was still standing.

"Ah," Haru managed at last, "I-It was no problem."

The man's smile became even softer if that was possible, "Thank you again, Haruka."

"How did you…" But then Haru realized he was wearing a name tag.

After the three of them bowed to the two blushing employees they took their leave. As the little family walked away Haru couldn't help but let his brain violently short circuit, his knees caving under his own weight. That guy called him by his first name. He smiled at him. His voice was so soothing and exhilarating at the same time. It was the kind of voice romantic characters in anime would speak with. And that was just his voice. The man's face and stature were equally as attractive as his voice. One would imagine men who looked like him would have an air of arrogance to them but not this one. He was so kind and motherly to his younger siblings and to Haru who acted like a broken windup toy. Haru's heart was swimming free in his chest, one hundred meters. That man's voice saying his name played over and over again in his head. _Haruka… Haruka… Haruka…_

"Haruka?"

He snapped awake from his fantasizing. He looked around slowly, in a daze, trying to figure out where he was and who was talking to him. It was the woman who was working at the customer service booth, she was alive again. She smiled at him knowingly, pressing his cheek with the capped end of her pen.

"If you run after them now you might be able to get his name."

Get his name? What was she on about? Get his name… as if… as… if…

A whistle went off in his head and Haru bolted from the desk, tearing after Ren, his cute sister, and his devastating older brother. Get his name? Would it be weird to ask? He just had to try. If things went horribly Haru could just drown himself in the bath when he got home that night. The linoleum floor squeaks underneath his sneakers as he sprinted down the isles of tupperware and wooden spoons. He cut through the dusty air, form perfect, but while he felt like he was going as fast as the wind would carry him in reality Haru was seriously slow. He only managed to catch up with them because the beautiful man was fumbling with his clownfish coin purse. Said man seemed to know Haru would be there and turned to face him, giving him another smile while waving with some loose yen between his fingers. Haru made his final steps over to the group, no turning back.

"Uh," Haru always had to start his sentences with a loose vowel, "My name is Haruka Nanase. What's yours?"

The little girl snickered at him but her older brother looked at Haru earnestly and said, "I'm Makoto Tachibana. It's a pleasure to meet you, Haruka."

Chills. Literally chills. The whole world stopped around them and Haru's chest never felt heavier while the rest of his body was floating like a cloud made of sugar. His name was Makoto Tachibana and he was pleased to meet Haruka. Suddenly Haru ruined the bathroom, was yelled at by his parents, and took this minimum wage job. He was no longer tired from the long school day or longing to take a bath. His name was Makoto Tachibana and that knowledge made Haru's spine tingle.

"Maybe I'll see you again next time I'm shopping," Makoto Tachibana said, finishing his transaction, "goodnight, then."

Haru only nodded, pokerfaced. But Makoto Tachibana seemed to understand him without words. And just like that Makoto Tachibana took his younger siblings and all their groceries home. Haru watched the whole time with admiration and longing. And as soon as the manager came round to put Haru back to work he immediately requested more shifts.

 **So how I got this idea was I was at Walmart with my mom and she went off to buy dog food (we feed some wild foxes that live in our backyard this) while I went to go grab the new Sailor Moon DVDs that came out while I was away in Japan. I walked in circles looking for her when a dude who worked there about my age asks "are you looking for anything?" And I say "My mom, like I'm a five year old." And he LAUGHED at that, I mean BUST. I found her a few isles down and as we were paying I thought "holy shit what if Haru found Makoto's brother in a foodstore and they had a MakoHaru moment." Swim Fam, you can find inspiration for your ships LITERALLY FUCKING ANYWHERE. Hope you liked this read.**


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